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Category

Published on

18 May 2011

Bio

D. Marshall Porterfield is a Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering with a joint appointment in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Dr. Porterfield received his B.S. from the University of South Alabama in biology with a focus on cell biology and his Ph.D. at Louisiana State University. Dr. Porterfield conducted post-doctoral research at the Marine Biological Lab at Woods Hole in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Before joining the ABE faculty in 2005 he was an assistant professor in Biological Sciences & Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Now at Purdue University, Dr. Porterfield is the Co-Director of the Physiological Sensing Facility, a collaborative core within the Bindley Bioscience Center at Discovery Park. The Physiological Sensing Facility (PSF) organizes intellectual exchange and fosters direct engagement with interdisciplinary scientists and engineers. To that end, the facility cultivates a broad understanding of both engineering/technology and biosciences research as a prerequisite to drive both sensor development and sensor application. The PSF seeks researchers from engineering, agriculture, biology, biomedical, and other life sciences areas to approach the PSF with ideas, needs, and capabilities that can adapted and applied to the development of new technologies. Based on identifying user needs, the PSF searches for ways to direct new developments in biological sensing technologies that will have significant impact in many research areas.

Dr. Porterfield's teaching and research focus is on advanced physiological sensing technologies for research applications in biology, agriculture, and medicine. Specific projects include: scanning probe sensor technology, biosensors, bioMEMS, bionanotechnology, and lab-on-a-chip systems. He also is working with plant systems in bioregenerative life support systems for spaceflight. His work in this area includes cell signaling, biophysical limitations in microgravity, nutrient delivery technology, and biomimetic sensors.